


The Knave

by LyzDrake



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Gen, Heroes to Villains, Redemption, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 07:44:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19268809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyzDrake/pseuds/LyzDrake
Summary: Who Is All-for-One? And now that he's dying, what will Aizawa find out about his purpose?





	The Knave

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [My Fallen Angel](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/491359) by Trayia. 



Four hours after All-Might took down All-for-One and lost his powers, All-for-One took a turn for the worse. His breathing grew labored, and he was taken to the prison hospital. Even the truly terrible villains had the right to healthcare and dignity in death. All-Might was still in the hospital when reports from the hospital came in with reports of the shadows changing shape and flickering. Some of the nurses claimed to see ghosts. Eraserhead was sent to investigate in his place, while Endeavor was sent to investigate a nearby beach, where the water was growing oddly disturbed.

* * *

  
Shouta Aizawa walked into Tartarus prison hospital. Despite his setting, the place seemed oddly innocuous, only truly different in how secure the patients were.

  
“Eraserhead.” A nurse greeted him as he came in. “My name is Nurse Anne. Let me show you the way to Mr. di Angelo.”

  
“I’m sorry?” The hero gave her an odd look as he followed.

  
“The villain, All-for-One. He gave us his name. He’s dying, Eraserhead. No tricks, his quirks are suppressed, and he’s dying.” The nurse gave him an odd look. “In this ward, no matter who they are, they come here to die, like every other man.”

  
Aizawa nodded as he followed the nurse into a room at the end of the hall. Without his suit, hooked up to oxygen, the man was startlingly normal. As the door opened, the shadows flickered preternaturally again. Aizawa canceled any active quirks, but the shadows stayed active.

  
All-for-One huffed a tired laugh. “S’not a quirk.” He mumbled tiredly.

  
“Mr… di Angelo, I hear it is?” Aizawa said neutrally.

  
The villain sighed tiredly. “Ask away. I’m dying anyhow. And yes, my name is Nico di Angelo.”

  
“An interesting name. Not Japanese, I presume?”

  
“No. I was born in 1926. My mother was Italian, my father was Greek-American. I grew up in America. I have one living relative, Perseus Jackson, my cousin. Our fathers are brothers, and when he comes, I would like to see him.”

  
Aizawa hummed, though he knew seeing a relative when dying would probably be allowed. He asked several questions about the League of Villains, some of which were answered. Then he asked suddenly, “What did you mean it’s not a quirk?”

  
DiAngelo gave him a tired look. Then, he slowly spoke. “Human belief is… powerful. Humanity is powerful. Long ago, humans worshiped gods. And in their belief, there formed the very deities they prayed to. And these deities spread their influence. Pantheons formed, and spread their influence, creating a self-sustaining power, until they were truly gods. And these gods would occasionally come down and have children with mortals, and so in the age before quirks, there were mortals with powers, called demigods, and I was one of them.”

  
Aizawa scoffed. “Then where are these gods now?”

  
The villain let a tear slip. “My father was Hades, a member of the Greek Pantheon. He was the first to notice when the gods started dying. The primordial, Chaos, was devouring the gods for their power. He killed every pantheon until very few were left, and even fewer were the heroes. Every pantheon banded together, and we chose our leader, our hero.” Aizawa had a distinctly odd feeling, listening to this villain describe his hero. “My father and the rest of the surviving gods poured their powers into him, and they named him the God of Victory and Heroes, and the rest of that power empowered and immortalized the rest of us. Then we fought until Chaos was weakened, and it was clear we didn’t have enough power to kill him. Finally, we sealed him away, and then it was Percy and me, alone in a world, where there were no more immortals, only 'The Ghost King' and the 'Hero of Olympus'. We’d lost everything: Percy’d lost his wife and his beautiful daughter, my beautiful goddaughter, Alexis. And I will never forget Will Solace... son of Apollo; I married him and I lost him.”

  
The man turned his head, and cried a few tears, before regaining his composure. Aizawa’s heart broke a bit at the grief for a beloved child and spouse. “Percy wasn’t built for that sort of loss, so I pushed him to hibernate in the sea, where he would be cradled by the remnants of his father’s power and affection, and I looked for a way to destroy Chaos, before he broke his seal and there was nothing we could do.”

  
Aizawa had a sinking feeling in his stomach. According to his words, this villain had been a warrior, maybe even a great hero. What had brought him to this? He glanced at the cameras. Nedzu would need to analyze this footage.

  
“Eventually, humans began manifesting quirks. It came from the remnants of divine power, and the quirks changed the world. Suddenly I had an idea. A terrible idea, so awful, it was sure to work. And then I would be able to rest, for timelessness is a terrible curse to the heartbroken and weary. I split a piece of my divine power into a mortal I’d come to know, and I merged it with a Quirk. This man was someone I could call brother, but I made him my weapon. Then I became a villain, the very thing needed to put his soul, and the souls of every bearer of my power, One-for-All, into the type of situation that would grow it, mired in the goodwill and optimism of a hero, carrying with it the very power that had created divinities in the first place… belief.”

  
Aizawa looked at the man with blatant horror. All this pain, all this death, everyone who’d been killed. It was part of a plan! His plan! He looked back at the dying man. “You’re a monster.”

  
Nico DiAngelo smiled brokenly. “I know. But I’d rather be a monster to humankind than watch it be destroyed. I destroyed myself. I ruined everything my sister loved about me, everything Percy taught me. I became what I once fought. But Percy is coming. I can feel his approach. And he will bury me as I was, and I will see my family again. Maybe I’ll see Alexis. And when Chaos is dead, maybe Percy will be able to join me in rest.”

* * *

  
Aizawa stared at the broken man, speechless, as someone else entered the room. He could feel the power radiating from him. It was palpable. He appeared young, and his eyes were green like the sea. With no fear, he approached the bed, and climbed on, gathering the broken man into his arms. “Oh, Nico.”

  
“Percy.” The man said softly. “It’s okay.”

  
“You’ve done so much wrong, Neeks.” The man, Percy, said sadly. “We would have come up with something.”

  
“I already did. But I couldn’t ask it of you. There’s a mortal. He carries a sliver of my power, enhanced by the power of belief and filled with heroics. Take my power. Burn me with a shroud. And when that mortal dies, my power will join with you, and it will be what you need. Kill Chaos, and end your immortality.” He sighed, strength leaving him as golden power swirled and sank into Percy’s skin.

  
“I will. A shroud for the son of Hades, Ghost King, Ambassador of Pluto, Hero of Olympus. May your crossing of the Styx take from you your sorrows, and may you see your family again.”

  
“Thank you.” DiAngelo breathed out but didn’t breath in again. He was dead, and Aizawa wasn’t sure if it was as a hero or as a villain. Maybe the man could be both.


End file.
